The Complete Course

From Beginning To Winning Chess!

by Fred Reinfeld

21st Century Edition

Fred Reinfeld Chess Classics Peter Kurzdorfer, General Editor

2016 Russell Enterprises, Inc. Milford, CT USA

1 The Complete Chess Course

The Complete Chess Course From Beginning to Winning Chess!

© Copyright 2016 Donald Reinfeld and Judith Reinfeld Fred Reinfeld Chess Classics – Peter Kurzdorfer, General Editor

ISBN: 978-1-941270-24-0 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-941270-25-7

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any manner or form whatsoever or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Published by: Russell Enterprises, Inc. PO Box 3131 Milford, CT 06460 USA

http://www.russell-enterprises.com [email protected]

The publisher and editor wish to express their thanks to David MacEnulty for his permission to use the explanation of English Algebraic Notation as set forth in his book My First Book of Chess Tactics.

Cover design by Janel Lowrance Printed in the of America

2 Table of Contents

From the Editor 5 Introduction 6

Book One – The Basic How the Pieces Move 8 and 13 16 Additional Powers of the 18 How the Moves Are Recorded 20 Relative Values of the Chess Forces 25 How Games Are Drawn 25 Book Two – The Nine Bad Moves (1) Neglecting Development of Your Pieces 30 (2) Exposing Your to Attack 35 (3) Making Too Many Moves in the Opening 39 (4) Grabbing Pawns Thoughtlessly 42 (5) Weakening Your Castled Position 47 (6) Getting Pinned 54 (7) Failing to Guard against Captures 60 (8) Underestimating Your Opponent’s Threats 64 (9) Losing a Won Game 68 Book Three – How to Play the White Pieces (1) How to Control the Center 74 (2) How to Exploit Your Superior Development 77 (3) How to Exploit Your Superior Mobility 82 (4) How to Exploit Black’s Premature Opening Up of the Position 87 (5) How to Exploit Black’s Premature Counterattack 91 (6) How to Exploit Black’s Weakening Pawn Moves 94 (7) How to Exploit Black’s Errors of Judgment 100 (8) Opening Mistakes White Should Avoid 105 Book Four – How to Play the Black Pieces (1) How to Exploit White’s Weaknesses 108 (2) How to Seize the 115 (3) How to Play against 120 (4) How to Defend against a Powerful Attack 127 (5) How to Seize the Attack 135 (6) Opening Mistakes Black Should Avoid 138 Book Five – How to Win When You’re Ahead (1) Superior Force Should Win! 142 (2) The Power of Pawn 147 (3) King and Pawn Endings 150 (4) Endgames with a Piece Ahead 154 (5) Endgames with the Ahead 157 (6) and Pawn Endings 160 (7) Endings with Minor Pieces 165 (8) Sundry Endings 169 (9) How to Simplify into a Won Ending 172 (10) Exceptions: Material Advantage Doesn’t Always Win 176 (11) Beware of Overconfidence! 179

3 The Complete Chess Course

Book Six – How to Fight Back (1) Counterattack – How to Meet the Crisis 184 (2) Resourceful Defense – How to Simplify 188 (3) Half a Point Is Better than None 193 (4) The Defense Fumbles 197 (5) How to Fight Back: Practical Examples 201 (6) Point of No Return 213 Book Seven – How to Play the e-pawn Openings 220 Danish 220 ’s Opening 221 222 King’s Gambit 223 King’s Gambit Declined 226 Falkbeer Counter Gambit 226 Latvian Counter Gambit 227 Philidor’s Defense 228 Petroff’s Defense 229 229 230 231 231 233 Two Knights’ Defense 234 Max Lange Attack 235 Four Knights’ Game (including Three Knights’ Game) 236 237 French Defense 242 Sicilian Defense 245 Caro-Kann Defense 248 Alekhine’s Defense 249 251 Nimzovich Defense 251 Pirc Defense 252 Book Eight – How to Play the d-pawn Openings Queen’s Gambit Declined 254 Albin Counter Gambit 265 Queen’s Gambit Accepted 266 Miscellaneous Double d-pawn Openings 267 Nimzo-Indian Defense 269 Queen’s Indian Defense 270 King’s Indian Defense 275 Grünfeld Defense 277 Blumenfeld Counter Gambit 280 Budapest Defense 280 281 Dutch Defense 282 Réti Opening 283 Catalan System 285 285 Bird’s Opening 287 Editorial Notes 288

4 From the Editor

Mid-20th century best-selling author Fred Reinfeld introduced thousands of players to the wonderful game of chess through his tireless efforts. His books were ubiquitous and covered every conceivable aspect of the royal game. I was one of countless chess players representing several generations who grew up surrounded by Reinfeld books. We couldn’t get enough of them! He not only taught us how to play the game well, but also implanted in us his enthusiastic passion for learning the game. Fred’s books are peppered throughout with words and phrases in italics to emphasize ideas. Moves are punctuated with single, double, and even triple exclamation marks and question marks to span the entire spectrum of emotions the moves conjure up. He had a way of reducing the most intricate, complicated combinations to their basic components. After Reinfeld explains a , it makes sense. Thus I am pleased and honored to be a part of bringing back my old mentor to new generations of chess players. Russell Enterprises Inc. is engaged in a project of resurrecting the immortal Reinfeld classics, republishing them with the modern algebraic notation in place of the archaic English that was popular years ago to make them accessible to 21st century chess players. This undertaking, begun under General Editor Bruce Alberston, has been passed on to me. So I get to reread these wonderful old books, change the notation in ChessBase, type up Fred’s snappy prose, and look out for potential errors. The few analytical errors that crop up from time to time are easily checked with the monster Fritz, which Fred never had access to. In those far-off pre-computer days, you analyzed each and every position, including any variations you thought up, with nothing more than a board and pieces, using your knowledge of the pieces’ potential. Thus the few errors are no reflection on the author’s ability or knowledge at all. I have called attention to only the most egregious ones, indicated by an asterisk, and appearing on page 288. They certainly do not detract at all from the fresh charm he imparts on each and every position he looks at. The Complete Chess Course in particular was originally brought out as a series of separate books that Fred later combined. The only part that is slightly out of date is his treatment of the openings, which are rather naïve by modern standards; however, that should make no difference at the intermediate or even national master level, as I know all too well. Absorb the material included in this volume and you will play chess at a fairly high level. Or read through it all and enjoy Fred’s masterful explanations; you will certainly be entranced by his enthusiasm for the intricate relationships the pieces experience in the context of a game or even a standout plan or combination. The section on notation is the only portion of this work that Fred Reinfeld did not write. Since he used the old English descriptive notation exclusively, that section has been replaced with the gracious permission of David MacEnulty from his My First Book of Chess Tactics.

Peter Kurzdorfer Olean, October 2015

5 The Complete Chess Course Introduction

Although seven of the eight sections of this book were originally published as separate volumes, they were written with their coordination as a complete chess course in mind. Conveniently prefaced now by a new summarized review of the basic elements of chess, the resulting comprehensive whole provides the instruction that any chessplayer needs to develop a respectable degree of skill. The integrated progression of subjects is treated in the following order. A player who knows the elements but little more about chess may not need the introductory steps revealed in Book One, but he does need to be warned about the types of mistakes – neglected development and the like – that beginning and intermediate players make so frequently. He can then go on to study opening play in its larger aspects, and examine its consequences in the ensuing middlegame. From this point he proceeds to study the endgame stage, which evolves out of the middlegame previously studied. And finally, having seen the logical relationship which binds together opening, middlegame, and ending, the student is now ready to go back to the initial stage and study the chief openings in rewarding detail. With this overall scheme in mind, the reader is in a better position to appreciate the detailed treatment in each section. Book One is a summary of chess fundamentals that provides the first springboard into the “royal” game for beginners, and also serves as a refresher for the more advanced player. Book Two is a study of the nine most common mistakes made by chessplayers. These include such typical errors as failing to guard against hostile captures, underestimating the opponent’s threats, and making pawn moves that weaken the castled position. Many examples are given to show how these and other mistakes prove disastrous in the opening and middlegame. Now that the reader has been made aware of the kinds of mistakes he must avoid, he is ready to study the problem of planning the opening so as to get a promising middlegame position. First the subject is treated from White’s point of view (Book Three). Dealing with such problems as control of the center, how to exploit superior development and mobility, and the like. But it is at least equally important to deal with opening problems from Black’s point of view, and this brings us to Book Four; here problems of counterattack and defense are emphasized. These studies of middlegame play lead logically to a treatment of the endgame stage, for whatever happens in the final part of the game is the consequence of what happened earlier in the opening and middlegame. As a rule, the chief practical problem of endgame play is how to win with a material advantage which has been obtained in the middlegame. In Book Five the different types of endings are classified and studied; many practical examples are explained, and the reader acquires an excellent grasp of the vital problem of converting a material advantage into victory. But to know how to make use of advantages is not enough; so in Book Six we go on to the related problem of how to make the most of disadvantageous positions. This section contains many valuable pointers that will help the reader to salvage many an apparently lost game. Now that opening, middlegame, and endgame have been surveyed, what remains? It is now time to survey the chess openings in some detail, paying particular attention to the way in which opening moves are intertwined with the ensuing middlegame play. This material appears in Books Seven and Eight. Each opening is presented with explanations of is basic ideas – the plans of each player, their middlegame goals, the clash that follows their attempts to enforce their disparate conceptions. Throughout, my aim has been to give the reader a better idea of the fine points of chess as it is played by the masters. The appreciative comments I have had from readers encourage me to believe that a much wider circle of new readers will enjoy this material and apply it profitably in their own games.

Fred Reinfeld 6 The Complete Chess Course Chapter One At first sight it seems that Black can win a piece by the double attack ...Qe6+. Counterattack – How to Meet the Crisis White’s bishop is attacking Black’s king rook. Black can simply save the rook with Not so long ago I read a magazine article ...Rg8. Instead, he tries: about a baseball manager who is famous for his 1...Qe6+ fighting spirit and aggressiveness. I was not Now if White tries to save his menaced surprised to learn that this manager has no equal bishop by 2.Be5 (passive defense), he loses his when it comes to bellowing at an umpire. But, bishop after 2...f6. when his team falls behind, this manager “seems White must find counterplay – active to lose interest.” defense! Therefore: So it is with us chessplayers. We attack 2.Qe2! because we like to; we defend because we have By interposing his queen, White has pinned to. We tend to do badly the things we dislike. the black queen, and has thus saved his bishop. And, since we dislike to defend, we defend This was a very clean-cut example, in miserably. Thus we lose many games which we which White was confronted with a stark might have won. decision. He had to find the right move; Have you ever stopped to think that otherwise his bishop would be lost at once. attacking ability plays a big role in defensive But sometimes the crisis, though real, is not play? Forget about the common assumption that so obvious to us. In such cases we tend to take defending means passive maneuvers, patient it easy, thereby drifting into a lost game. crawling, endless dread of the decisive blow. Diagram 2 illustrates this possibility. (D) There are many times when you can smash cuuuuuuuuC your opponent’s attack with one vigorous thrust. (rDw1rDkD} If you size up your resources accurately, you 70wDwDp0p} can seize the attack for yourself. In other words, 6w0wDwhwD} 2 play the defense in an aggressive mood. Here’s how: 5DwDpDnDw} &PDp)wDwD} Look for Counterplay 3Dw)w)PDw} Let’s look at some actual examples to see 2wDwHwDP)} the far-reaching difference between active and passive defense. In Diagram 1, for instance, %$wGw!RIw} passive play will never do: (D) v,./9EFJMV cuuuuuuuuC White to move (rDwDkhw4} 70w0qDpDp} White wants to save his attacked e-pawn, 6w0wDwGp)} 1 and at the same time get a powerful pawn center, 5hwDpDwDw} with 1.e4. Is this plan good or bad? White plays the move that looks logical: &wDwDwDwD} 1.e4 dxe4 2.fxe4 3Dw)wDN)w} Now Black has to look sharp. If he plays 2P)wDw)wD} the dull 2...Ne7, he has a hopeless position after 3.e5 Nfd5 4.Ne4. In that event, White has a %$wDQIwDR} magnificent attacking position, with his open v,./9EFJMV f-file, his powerfully centralized , and his Black to move queen and bishop poised for action on the

184 How to Fight Back kingside. (Even his queen rook can be switched At the same time Black indirectly defends quickly to the kingside by means of Ra2 his bishop by threatening ...Qb1+ followed by followed by Raf2.) checkmate on the back rank. In other words, So here is the crisis. Black can play White must now stop to prevent this checkmate, listlessly, falling into a helpless defensive giving Black the time to salvage his bishop. position – or, he can strike out boldly at the one Thus you see how Black, by his alert weakness in White’s position. Namely: counterplay, saved a position which many 2...Nxd4! players would have dismissed as hopeless. This wins a pawn and destroys White’s mighty pawn center and his beautiful attacking Find the Hidden Flaw position. For if now 3.cxd4 Qxd4+ winning The first step toward becoming a skilful White’s queen rook! Vigorous counterplay defensive player, then, is to handle the defense solved Black’s problem. in an aggressive spirit. If you do that, you can In Diagram 3 we come to a situation where find subtle defensive resources that other the crisis is drastic and immediate. Black’s players would not dream of. By seeking active position is threatened so strongly that he seems counterplay, you will often upset clever quite lost: (D) attacking lines. Better yet, you will upset your cuuuuuuuuC opponent. (rDw4wDkD} Diagram 4 offers a good example of such a refutation: (D) 7DbDw$p0w} cuuuuuuuuC 6pDqDwDw0} 3 (rDbDw4kD} 5DwHpDwDw} 7DpDwDp0w} &wDw)wDwD} 6w1n0pgw0} 4 3Dw$wDQDw} 50wDwDwDw} 2w)wDw)P)} &NDwDP)wD} %DwDwDwIw} 3DNDwDwDw} v,./9EFJMV 2P)P!wDP)} Black to move %DKDRDBDR} v,./9EFJMV White threatens Qxf7+ followed by Qxg7#. He also threatens to win a piece by Black to move ...Rxb7 or ...Nxb7. Can Black hold the position? Most players would see no way for Black Black’s queen is attacked; so is his d-pawn. to save himself in this predicament. And yet Naturally he will save his queen. Does that there is a way out – if only Black is determined! mean his d-pawn is lost? His problem is this: how can he parry the No doubt of it – this is a difficult situation mate threat without losing the bishop? If there for Black. If he saves the queen by 1...Qc7, then is a way, it must be based on a counter-threat – White simply continues 2.Qxd6 with a pawn to a threat of mate, for example. And Black finds the good. the resource he needs: Or if Black tries 1...Qb4, White has 2.Qxb4 1...Qg6! axb4 3.Nb6 Rb8 4.Nxc8 Rfxc8 followed by This defends against White’s mate threat of 5.Rxd6 and again White has won a pawn, Qxf7+ etc. leaving Black without .

185 The Complete Chess Course Must White win a pawn – or is there some are scattered, and his queen is unable to get back sly, hidden resource for Black? There is, if to the kingside. (Note, for example, that Qf1 or Black is alert enough to search for it. Here it is: Qe2 are impossible.) 1...Qc7 2.Qxd6 Well aware of the strength of his position, Now comes a stinging surprise: Black tries to achieve a decision on the kingside. 2...Rd8!! He starts with: Giving away the queen? 1...Qf8 3.Qxc7 Rxd1+ 4.Nc1 Bd8!! This looks terrifying, as Black threatens The beautiful point of Black’s exceptionally 2...Rxg3+!. If then 3.hxg3 Qf2+ and mate next clever play. White’s queen is trapped, and move. If instead 3.Kh1 Rxh2+! 4.Kxh2 Qf2+ White has nothing better than to give up the forces mate. queen for a minor piece. In that case, Black will How is White to defend? If he tries passive have a rook for a minor piece and pawn. This play with 2.Rf1, Black has 2...Rxf1+ 3.Qxf1 advantage of “” will assure Black Qc5+ winning White’s knight. That would victory in the endgame. leave Black with two pawns and the exchange Black’s play in Diagram 4 was remarkably ahead – an easy win for him. fine. But the way White fights back in the So White does the best he can: position of Diagram 5 is even more fascinating, 2.Bxf3 Qxf3 especially from a sporting point of view. Here Apparently Black has calculated White evolved his defense in a very difficult beautifully. He threatens 3...Qg2#. position, with all the spectators certain that If White tries 3.Qf1 – this seems the only Black was building up a brilliant winning defense – there follows 3...Rg2+! 4.Qxg2 position. (D) Qxd1+ followed by 5...Qxd5. With two pawns cuuuuuuuuC ahead, Black would have an easy win in the (wDwDwDkD} queen and pawn ending. 7DpDwDw0w} So there you see White’s predicament – 6wDw1wDw0} 5 either he gets mated (immediate death), or he loses the ending (slow death, with torture). 50QDN0wDw} Or...is there some way out for White? There is &PDwDpDBD} – and what a way! 3DwDwDr)w} 3.Nf6+!! Black resigns!! Black resigns although he’s on the point of 2w)rDwDw)} administering checkmate! Why? %DwDRDwIw} In the first place, if Black plays 3...gxf6 he v,./9EFJMV allows White to snatch the attack: 4.Qe8+ Kg7 5.Rd7#. Bravo! Black to move And if Black plays 3...Qxf6, White has 4.Qb3+ winning Black’s rook and coming out Materially the position is about even, as a rook ahead. Black has a rook and two pawns for two minor Finally, if Black tries 3...Kf7 (or 3...Kh8 pieces. Positionally, however, Black has a very 4.Qe8#), White has a neat checkmate with strong game with one of his rooks on the sec- 4.Qe8+! Kxf6 5.Rd6+ Kg5 6.Qg6#!. ond rank. Admittedly, White’s resource was not easy The powerful position of one of Black’s to see. And why? Because few players, threat- rooks on the second rank gives Black ened with mate on the move, would have the formidable mating threats. The situation is all imaginative daring to try to fight their way out the more difficult for White because his forces – to hit back, instead of being resigned to a hopeless endgame.

186 How to Fight Back In Diagram 6 you can see the same point Wonderful! White has a by illustrated even more forcefully. White’s pieces moving his knight back and forth. His faith in are beautifully posted – and yet his queen is lost! the strength of his position has been justified. What would you do in such a position – would But wait… this is a dangerous moment. What you resign, or would you look for some way a pity if White, in a moment of relief because he’s out? (D) managed to save the game, misses the fact that cuuuuuuuuC he has a forced checkmate! This is how: (rDwiwDw4} 5.Nf8+! Kb8 6.Rd8+ Nc8 7.Rxc8# 70p0whw1w} White’s uphill struggle was very rewarding. It takes a lot of courage to fight on in a situation 6wDwDw0w0} 6 where the queen is irretrievably lost. 5DwDwhw0Q} But note this, which is typical: instead of &wDBDw0bD} giving way to despair, White calmly sized up the position and made the best possible use of 3GP)wDwDw} the factors favoring him. In this case it was the 2PDwHwDP)} splendid attacking position of his pieces poised %DwDR$wIw} to smite the black king that gave White the v,./9EFJMV all-important hint. White to move One point that’s rather puzzling: how was White able to unleash such a powerful attack White’s queen is lost. How should he pro- without having the services of his queen? The ceed? Is his game hopeless, or does he have answer is partly, as we’ve seen, that Black’s some subtle, deeply hidden resource that wins king was badly exposed to attack. But this isn’t for him? the whole answer. The other vital element was There is a clue to White’s procedure in this the fact that Black’s queen was not in a position fact: Black’s king has a very shaky position, to aid the defense. right in the middle of the board and facing And so it turned out that White’s loss of the White’s businesslike rook on the d-file. queen was minor – but only because he hit back Well, what then? Suppose White gives a immediately, with all the forces at his com- discovered check: mand. 1.Nf3+ Kc8 In the position of Diagram 7, on the other As it happens, Black can hold out longer hand, everything is deceptively serene. Black is with 1...Bd7. But why play this chicken-hearted a pawn ahead, and while his pieces are interposition when he can win White’s queen? somewhat awkwardly placed, he seems to have So, here we have a critical position. What no reason to worry. (D) can White do to make up for the threatened loss cuuuuuuuuC of his queen? Is there any resource which offers (rDb1wgkD} the slightest hope in this desperate situation? 70w0whwDp} 2.Nxe5!! 6w0wDw4wD} 7 If now 2...fxe5 3.Qxg4+ and White’s queen is safe, with a piece to the good. But Black is 5DwDP0w0w} relentless: &NGwDP0wD} 2...Bxh5 3DwDwDPDw} What now? Well, White has a check. Let’s try it: 2PDwDBDP)} 3.Be6+ Kb8 %Dw$QDRIw} And now another check: v,./9EFJMV 4.Nd7+ Kc8 White to move 187 The Complete Chess Course Black is all set to answer an astonishing can play 4...Qd7 attacking White’s knight and with an even more astonishing reply. thus winning a second exchange. Or he can play White has deliberately headed for this 4...Qg7, with the idea of playing for a kingside position, as he has a very powerful-looking attack. move which seems to give him an Actually Black made the second choice, but overwhelming advantage: this no longer concerns us here. What interests 1.Rxc7? us is that Black, confronted by a stern challenge, Black’s first reaction might well be one of met the crisis with a superb countermove that terror as he considers the consequences of turned the game in his favor. 1...Qxc7? 2.d6. So there you have the moral of this chapter. The fight against White’s formidable Beware of passive defense that may force you passed d-pawn seems hopeless, for example: into a straitjacket position. Look for defensive If 2...Qb7 3.dxe7 Bxe7 4.Bxe7 Qxe7 moves that are active and aggressive. Don’t be 5.Qd5+ winning Black’s queen rook. satisfied merely with moves that blunt the Or if 2...Qd8 3.dxe7 Bxe7 4.Bxe7 winning hostile attack. Look for moves that enable you the same way. to take the attack into your own hands. The The same motif appears after 2...Qc6 examples in this chapter show you how it’s done. 3.dxe7 Bg7 4.Qd5+! Qxd5 5.e8Q+ and wins. Black, in despair, might try 2...Rxd6 Chapter Two 3.Bxd6. But then White wins back his pawn and remains with a vastly superior position. Resourceful Defense – How to Simplify This is a very useful position to study; it is in just such situations that a player, confronted No sooner have I convinced you of the with several unattractive possibilities, loses his value of active defense than I must add a word head completely. The strain proves too much of caution. for the player who is on the defensive. Alert, aggressive defense is fine, but it isn’t But in this case Black plays with admirable always possible. What do you do when it isn’t poise, unleashing a counterattack which leaves possible? Do you just allow the attack to White with a lost game. overwhelm you? Do you give up hope, 1...Nf5!! resigning yourself to the inevitable? Or do you A magnificent move, which to begin with look for some resource against your opponent’s takes the sting out of White’s contemplated attack? d5-d6. In addition, look at Black’s threats: Simplify! 2...Qxc7 or 2...Bxb4 or 2...Ne3. His keen, alert Few of us realize that one of the best countermove has snatched the initiative from weapons against an attack is to play for an White. exchange of pieces. An attack flourishes on If White tries 2.Rxc8 Rxc8 3.exf5, then complications, on the efforts of powerfully 3...Bxb4 leaves Black the exchange ahead. posted pieces aimed at cramped positions. Or if 3.Bxf8 then Black has a crushing reply Every time you simplify, you remove a in 3...Ne3. hostile piece that might have done a great deal White tries a different way, but Black still of damage. You’re also removing a unit of your remains with a winning game. own that might have been idle or useless. But 2.Bxf8 Qxc7 3.Ba3 Ne3 4.Qc1 above all, you’re whittling down the force of Now Black has two ways to proceed. He your opponent’s attack; you’re reducing the danger to which you’re exposed.

188